Re: Ride the Lobster Teams- place your bets!

[steveyo]

Kyle_Destroyer wrote:
> Yes, but a team of geared uni's has a crazy advantage over non-geared.


Geared or ungeared, you do the same amount of working moving from point
A to point B. The guni may go faster, but they'll be more tired after
a given amount of time riding, too. This race is about speed, but
also, hugely, about endurance.


--
steveyo

steveyo
...like having your own personal rollercoaster...

- a few 'uni race write-ups'
(http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/uni_race_writeups/)
- muni and kokopelli uni 't-shirts, mugs and stickers'
(http://www.cafepress.com/steveyo)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
steveyo's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7228
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69918


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

[joemarshall]

steveyo wrote:
> Geared or ungeared, you do the same amount of working moving from point
> A to point B. The guni may go faster, but they'll be more tired after
> a given amount of time riding, too. This race is about speed, but
> also, hugely, about endurance.



I think at the back of the race, it will be about endurance, at the
front, much more about speed, as everyone at the front will have the
endurance to keep the pace up.

Whoever wins, it's likely to be a team of people for whom 40 miles a
day is a short ride, who are able to spin flat out for that kind of
distance. There are 2 riders out there who've done 24 hour rides
greater than the roughly 200 mile total distance they'll be riding in
RTL, and I expect most of the good riders will have done 100 mile day
rides, back to back 60 mile days etc.

I think the hillyness of RTL may help the geared 36 riders, because
they have a real advantage on the downhills as they don't have to spin
too fast. Geared 29ers I don't think have a massive advantage or
disadvantage compared to a 36", I'm just riding mine because it's more
convenient to travel with and a bit less tiring to ride. I doubt I'll
shift often except on absolutely massive hills.

The hillyness may also give an advantage to people from hilly areas,
whereas those from flatter areas are having to do a lot of hill
training at the moment.

One thing that might be on the side of us Brits is the weather. Nova
Scotia - famous for rain, twice as much rain as London, we'll be right
at home if it rains. Whereas I can see the S. Californian teams all
disintegrating as this inexplicable wet stuff comes out of the sky.

Joe


--
joemarshall

my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq44
------------------------------------------------------------------------
joemarshall's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/1545
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69918


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

[tholub]

joemarshall wrote:
>
> I think the hillyness of RTL may help the geared 36 riders, because
> they have a real advantage on the downhills as they don't have to spin
> too fast. Geared 29ers I don't think have a massive advantage or
> disadvantage compared to a 36", I'm just riding mine because it's more
> convenient to travel with and a bit less tiring to ride. I doubt I'll
> shift often except on absolutely massive hills.
>
> The hillyness may also give an advantage to people from hilly areas,
> whereas those from flatter areas are having to do a lot of hill
> training at the moment.
>



The elevation profile I've seen doesn't look very hilly to me. The
high point is just 250 meters, and it looks like most of the hills top
out at not much over 100 meters. That's really pretty flat for 800km.
It's possible that some of those small hills are steep enough to make a
difference, but it looks to me like the course isn't nearly hilly
enough to be advantageous for me. I don't expect to shift often or at
all on my 29er.

After some testing, here's my take on the geared 29er vs. an ungeared
36er.

* On hills too steep to turn over the big gear (above about 5% grade),
the ungeared 36er is marginally faster.

* On certain hills of a higher grade, the 29er in 1:1 mode is
marginally faster than the 36er.

* On hills just under the steepness threshold for gearing (3-5% grade),
the 29er is marginally faster than the 36er, but requires significant
additional energy expenditure to keep your speed up.

* On flats, the 29er is marginally faster than the 36er and takes less
energy to ride.

* On downhills, the 29er is significantly faster than the 36er and
takes less energy to ride.


--
tholub
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tholub's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/804
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69918


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

[corbin]

tholub wrote:
> The elevation profile I've seen doesn't look very hilly to me. The high
> point is just 250 meters, and it looks like most of the hills top out
> at not much over 100 meters. That's really pretty flat for 800km.
> It's possible that some of those small hills are steep enough to make a
> difference, but it looks to me like the course isn't nearly hilly
> enough to be advantageous for me. I don't expect to shift often or at
> all on my 29er.
>
> After some testing, here's my take on the geared 29er vs. an ungeared
> 36er.
>
> * On hills too steep to turn over the big gear (above about 5% grade),
> the ungeared 36er is marginally faster.
>
> * On certain hills of a higher grade, the 29er in 1:1 mode is
> marginally faster than the 36er.
>
> * On hills just under the steepness threshold for gearing (3-5% grade),
> the 29er is marginally faster than the 36er, but requires significant
> additional energy expenditure to keep your speed up.
>
> * On flats, the 29er is marginally faster than the 36er and takes less
> energy to ride.
>
> * On downhills, the 29er is significantly faster than the 36er and
> takes less energy to ride.



Ooops...edit: I thought Tom was comparing the geared 36'er to the
geared 29'er.

IMHO, the geared 36'er is faster on flats, and downhills. On some
uphills, the geared 29'er in 1-1 is definitely better than the geared
36'er in 1-1 (ie: Mt diablo, I'm thinking of you!)

corbin


--
corbin

http://www.corbinstreehouse.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
corbin's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/7561
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69918


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

[Klaas Bil]

tholub wrote:
> After some testing, here's my take on the geared 29er vs. an ungeared
> 36er.
>
> * On hills too steep to turn over the big gear (above about 5% grade),
> the ungeared 36er is marginally faster.
> * On certain hills of a higher grade, the 29er in 1:1 mode is
> marginally faster than the 36er.
> * On hills just under the steepness threshold for gearing (3-5% grade),
> the 29er is marginally faster than the 36er, but requires significant
> additional energy expenditure to keep your speed up.
> * On flats, the 29er is marginally faster than the 36er and takes less
> energy to ride.
> * On downhills, the 29er is significantly faster than the 36er and
> takes less energy to ride.

You don't mention crank length. Both setups can be adapted to hilly
days, head or tail winds, etc, by changing cranks. So, what crank
length(s) did you have in mind when making these comparisons? BTW, note
that a Schlumpf 29" in geared mode is a virtual 45", so actually a lot
larger than an ungeared 36".

In the preparation to RTL, you see many riders gravitate towards geared
36", a setup that is missing from your comparison. It's remarkable that
when Schlumpf came out with his hub, he put it in 20" and 24" wheels,
and it took some convincing to have him put it in a 29" too. At the
time, people were just joking about geared 36". Look now...

Someone wrote in another thread a while ago (commenting about geared
36'ers) that he had seen the future of road unicycling. Looks to me
that RTL marks the birth of the future of road unicycling. Yes we've
had geared 36" for a few years, but now they're quickly becoming more
commonplace.


--
Klaas Bil
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Klaas Bil's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/3442
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69918


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com

[unicycle6869]

Any guesses as to which team with out any geared uni's will come out on
top???


--
unicycle6869

Jamey (formaly tuna6869)
'www.uniproshop.com' (http://www.uniproshop.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
unicycle6869's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/8990
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/69918


Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com